Safety can-ferd chute



A. R. THOMPSON.

SAFETY CAN FEED CHUTE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 3. 1920.

Patented Oct. 25, 1921.

A TTORNEYS CIUN'ITED. STATES PATENT OFFICE:

LLBERT n. rnomon, or sari JOSE, carrronnrn,'assre1-mn 'ro unease n- .nnmmnovnn um. co., or SAN JOSE, cauroama, A CORPORATION 01* CALIFORNIA.

SAFETY CAN-FEED CHUTE.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, .ALBERT R. THOMPSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at San Jose, in the county of Santa Clara and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Safety Can-Feed Chutes, ofwhich the'following is a specification. Y

My invention relates to can-feeding devices and particularl to that type or class of feeders in which t e supports for the can are spaced by a distance greater than the diameter and but little less than the length of the can, sothat unless the can enters upon said supports square and true it will fail to bridge the space and will drop through and out of the can stream, without interfering with the continuity of said stream. An example of this type ofcan-feedin devices is disclosed by my former Patent ,0. 1238217,

9 dated Aug. 28, 1917, in which rotating turret disks are spaced and operate to carry the cans forward only when said cans register squarely upon them, but drop them. down between, when outof true.

My present invention, instead of employ ing the rotatin gravity chute, with properly spaced side supports, and means for nicely adjusting the -s'p'ace to insure its delicacy of function or to adapt it for different lengths of cans.

The importance of a simple, effective and easily regulatable'sa-fety can feed chute may be seen from the following brief statement of the conditions.

In the canning art it is important that the continuous and voluminous stream of cans passing through the line of a paratus shall at no, point be interrupted. eriou's results and loss of time follow an disarrangement much care and personal supervision are given to prevent interruption of the stream. This is particularly the case in the matter of feeding the cans into the stream at whatever point in the line, or in connection with whatever machine of the series, it may be necessary to supply or transfer the cans. For the sake of example,-I will describe my invention in connection with feedingthe cans to a cooker, though it must be understood that my device is applicable to any apparatus or machine to which .it 'is necessary to feed cans with precision and under proper control in order Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed April a,

turret disks, comprises a,

Patented Oct. 25, 1921.

1920. Serial No. 370,938.

to inaugurate orto maintain the can-stream contmuity.

The object of my invention is to provide a can-feed device which will automatically supply the cans in succession under such conditions of accuracy as to time and position as to insure the continuance and unin terruption of the can-stream; and to this end my invention consists in the novel canfeed device which I shall nowfully describe by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a view, broken, of what may be called a cooker, showing in side elevation the application thereto of my safety canfeed chute.

Fig. 2 is a side view, enlarged, and partly broken, 'of the can feed chute.

Flg. 3 is a top planview of the same.

Fig. 4 is a section on the line 44 of Fig. 2.

1 is a receptacle, to which the cans are to be fed. For descriptive purposes itmay be called a cooker.

2 is the feed chute, the delivery section of which is curved and centrally ribbed at 2', to better guide and swerve the cans to the receptacle inlet 3, thus enabling the chute to be placed parallel with the side of the cooker to save width space. The floor of the chute inclines downwardly to said inlet in order that the cans will roll thereto by. gravity.

To the receiving end of the chute is fitted the elevator 4, which carries the cans to the chute.

The chute 2 at one portion or section of its length, (at which section its safety function is performed) has an opening 5 in its floor (Fig. 3), which in the clear is wider than 7 an angle piece 8, which is movable to or from the side, by suitable means, such, for example, as the adjusting screws 9.

The fio'or of the chute in the approach section to the safety section, rises with relatively wide sides 10, Figs. 2 and 3, which are elevated above the side rails 6 of the safety opening 5 and-terminate in a progpunced drop to said side-rails, as seen in The operation of the chute is as follows. The .cans, indicated by 12,. are lifted by the elevator 4 and carried positively into the receiving end of the chute and upwardly upon the rising floor sides 10 of the approach section until they, surmount the general rise and drop off said sides 10 upon the adjustable angle members 8 of the safety section of the chute. If a can approaches square with the chute and drops true upon members of the safety section, it will bridge the opening 5, and will roll safely thereover and enter the inlet 3 of the box 1. But if the can should approach end on, or upright, or twisted, so t at it does not lie square to the chute, it will not bridge the opening -5 but -will drop through it, as indicated in B ig. 1, and W111 be thus automatically removed from the can stream, and cease to be an obstruction or a menace to the continuity of the stream. Thus the initial insurance of each cans position in the stream, by the automatic discharge of a vitally displaced can, avoids the necessity of personal supervision and attention at this point. This automatic safety feature is due to the intentional relation between the separation of the chute sides and the diameter and length of the can. To render this relation easily variable, so that its function may be accurate, and adapted for different cans, the adjustable supplementary angle members 8 are introduced.

The drop from the raised floor-sides 10 of the approach section down to the safetysection serves to accentuate, as it were, any

'untrue position of the can, with the result '.of better insuring its fall through .the opening'5. For example, if a can be slightly twisted, that is, one end alittle advanced,

said end will drop oif from the raised floor side 10 first, and the can using the other end as a fulcrum on the other raised floor side 10 will twist still further and thus insure its passage through the opening 5 and out of the can stream. Thus the drop from the floor. sides 10 increases the efficiency of the chute.

1." A can-feed chute having in one section of its length an opening in its floor of a width greater than the diameter and but little less than the length of the c ansto be fed and said chute having an approach section to said open-floor section adapted to direct a can rolling true therein to bridge said floor opening, the floor of said approach section rising to a plane above that of the open-floor section and terminating in a drop to said open-floor section.

2. A can-feed chute having in one section of its length an opening in its floor of a width greater than the diameter and but little less than the length of the cans to be fed and said chute having an approach section to said open-floor section in line therelittle less than the length of the cans to befed, the walls of the chute on each side of said opening being of angle section; and a supplementary angle member adjustably fitted to the inside of the chute Walls, adapted to vary the Width of said opening, said chute having an approach section to the open-floor section adapted to direct the can rolling true therein to bridge said floor opening, and the floor of said approach section rising to a plane above that of the open-floor section and terminating in a drop to said last named section,

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

ALBERT R. THOMPSON. 

